[SanFranManDan]

It reminds me of how last year (and still ongoing) we saw heaps of meditation apps.

It just seemed completely counter intuitive to me (as a Zen practitioner) to introduce something needlessly complicated on probably the simplest (not the easiest) thing you can do in your life.

There is a significant amount of learning involved in focus and meditation, by and large the people reading and buying these want a short cut and do themselves a disservice. Work is part of your life. Trying to have certain hacks to focus to work then pull up an app for more hacks on how read, then a different app for hacks on how to meditate to cast out the stress of work, misses the connection between why you cant focus in the first place. Not being able to read, work, relax are all symptoms of a problem: you are terrified of being bored.

The Pomodoro method seems like a good start, but in my opinion mindfullness should be applied to every part of your life.

Learning to focus on work will help you focus on work. Learning to be mindful will help you with relationships, sex, reading, work and pretty much every part of your life.

My best advice is to get comfortable being bored. Stare at a blank wall for an hour every few days. It will profoundly change your life.

[notyme]

I began appreciating boredom for its on sake after reading this article https://hbr.org/2010/06/why-i-returned-my-ipad years ago and since then I consciously avoid trying to be "productive" during commute, queues etc. Quoting from article: "Being bored is a precious thing, a state of mind we should pursue. Once boredom sets in, our minds begin to wander, looking for something exciting, something interesting to land on. And that’s where creativity arises".